The angle which is contained by the occipital bone at the inion, in a sagittal plane, is less in the Australian than in the modern European skull. Many of the Australian skulls one examines, therefore, seem to be unusually flattened at the base, below the inion.
The cranial walls of no other race are so massive as those of the Australian. It is particularly in the supraorbital and the occipital regions that the bone is so thick; the thinnest portions lie in the temporal and lower parietals; these remarks apply principally to the adult male skulls. The consequent strength of the aboriginal’s skull has almost become proverbial. Many are the club-duels which tribal law and honour demand to be fought. Upon these occasions the head is the mark. But also in the settlement of his domestic affairs, when a serious offence calls for punishment, the husband selects the head of his gin for beating with the weighty nulla-nulla. Is it a wonder, then, that one often finds the skulls of aborigines covered with dents, which have resulted from such a battering? Occasionally death might follow such treatment; and a few cases stand on record of blindness following the destruction of the centre of vision by a blow from the club. So severe is the impact that often, in the stillness of night, I have heard the falling of the blows upon a disobedient gin’s head, although our camp might have been some considerable distance off.
PLATE V
Wordaman man, profile and full-face.
Note scaphocephaly, great width of nose, and strong naso-labial fold.
This wonderful strength is largely due to the better development of the compact tissue of the skull-bone, when compared with that of the European. The external, as well as the internal, laminae of the cranial wall are thicker than ours, while, on the other hand, the intermediate layer, known as the diploë, is thinner in the aboriginal’s skull. This condition serves the double purpose of protecting the brain against the mechanical injury referred to, as well as against the powerful rays of a fierce southern sun.
In regard to the cubic capacity of the Tasmanian and Australian skulls, we might accept as averages for the adult male and female Australian skulls 1,290 and 1,845 cubic centimeters respectively, and as similar averages for the Tasmanian, 1,315 and 1,155 respectively. The individual variations in the adult male Australian skulls range from 1,630 to 1,040, and in those of the opposite sex from 1,280 to 1,010 cubic centimeters. The corresponding variations in male and female Tasmanian skulls are from 1,465 to 1,140, and from 1,225 to 1,060 respectively.
There are, however, considerable variations in the capacity of Australian skulls; many instances may be selected in which the capacity is quite as good as that of an ordinary European brain-box. On the other hand, cases have been recorded of capacities not greater than 940 cubic centimeters in adult female Australian skulls.
The brain of the Australian has not been studied to any considerable extent. The first impression a layman receives, upon beholding the brain of an aboriginal, is, perhaps, a little disappointing. Assuming him to be a man of low intellect, he expects to find a brain of inferior development. But such is not the case. In fact, to any but the specialist, there seems nothing to indicate a lowly intellectual capacity. The number of convolutions is about the same as one finds in Europeans of average intelligence; but the structure, as a whole, is, perhaps, a little less complicated and less tortuous than we are accustomed to see in our own sort. The large cerebral hemispheres completely cover the cerebellum. Certain features, like the operculum, are more strongly developed on the left side than the right.